


What hides beneath

by bgn846



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Glaido has to help him through it, Halloween, Haunted Houses, HighSpecs, Hugging, M/M, Poor Prompto, Post-World of Ruin, Promptober, Promptober 2018, Spoilers, is a thing but not major in this fic, promptio, prompto goes to a haunted house, there is something really scary in there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 06:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16470773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bgn846/pseuds/bgn846
Summary: Prompto and Gladio decide to check out Insomnia's first Halloween horror night since the dawn.  But there is something really scary in there that none of them are expecting.





	What hides beneath

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to do something for Halloween since all my other fav authors are doing stuff. So enjoy this little short one shot of angsty fluff.

Prompto kept telling himself that everything was fine, there was nothing wrong with enjoying a simple holiday.  Halloween had been slightly taboo since the dawn even two years later.  Insomnia was mostly rebuilt and things were finally starting to feel normal.  But the idea of celebrating a holiday featuring the love for the scary and macabre was still unsettling.

Considering what everyone had been through with the deamons and general horrible darkness it was a touchy subject.  So when the gunner had seen an ad on the side of a building for Insomnia’s first halloween horror night at the city center he had wondered how people would react. 

It seemed most were ready to have some fun and there were only a handful of opponents. Prompto normally loved fairs and themed parks before the darkness fell but it was taking a lot for him to get back into that frame of mind.   Maybe this would be a good thing to check out and try to have some fun. 

It took Prompto a full week before he felt comfortable bringing up the subject to Gladio.  He had waited until they were eating dinner one night in their cozy one bedroom apartment.  He should have known that Gladio would support him no matter what.  They had been together for almost fifteen years and Gladio had figured out most of Prompto’s little quirks. 

He agreed to go with him to the fair and even seemed happy that Prompto was willing to check it out.  Since Noct’s passing it had been difficult for all of them.  Gladio was always there to support Prompto and help him feel loved so that helped. 

The day finally arrived that he and Gladio would go to the horror nights fair, it boasted a haunted house and escape rooms with special characters, whatever that meant.  Prompto’s heart started racing even before they made it to the main entrance.  The organizers had placed fake zombies near the door to hover near the ticket booth.  He could handle this.

Gladio grabbed his hand as they made their way further into the park.  “Relax woulda… I won’t let anything get you.” He teased. 

“I’m fine; I just want to have fun.”  Prompto responded grinning widely.  He was about to continue his banter with Gladio when the haunted house caught Prompto’s attention.  “Oh!  We gotta go check that out.  After all the shit we fought out there let’s see if any of this actually scares us!”  He took off towards the building dragging Gladio behind him.

The line wasn’t very long so they were able to enter the haunted house after about five minutes.  There was no actual ride; you wandered in a predefined path through the dark halls getting ambushed by costumed employees.  There were fake cob webs and sticky things hanging from the ceiling.  Clever use of black lights and strobes added to the effect. 

Prompto flinched a few times from surprise.   Gladio was laughing the whole time; he handled his surprise differently than the blonde.  “This is different than getting attacked by daemons thankfully!” He yelled over the loud music they had pumped in the place.  Gladio smiled at him and shoved Prompto playfully towards the hall of mirrors that was coming up next.  They navigated it well enough considering all the twists and turns that threatened to disorient.

A little spark of doubt had started to kindle in his gut at the thought of triggering a panic attack once they were stuck in the middle of the haunted house.  Prompto was doing well and hoped it would be over soon, they had spent years fighting _real_ scary things and that had been more than enough frights to last a lifetime.  Yet here he was seeking out more.  It was crazy, not to mention slightly foolish considering he was pretty sure he had some form of PTSD. 

Knowing that Gladio was close at hand helped keep that panic from growing.  Finally he caught a glimpse of the lights outside the haunted house, they were almost finished.  He had done it, managed to keep his cool in this place.  Noct would have been proud of him. 

Distracted by the exit sign Prompto ran ahead to leave, he barely stopped himself from slamming into the mirror he was now faced with.  The exit door was a reflection; it was behind him not in front.  Whirling around with renewed hope he came face to face with a true daemon. 

Ardyn.

His brain short circuited.  Noct had won. 

Hadn’t he?

In the split second that had elapsed he instantly went to call for his gun.  It didn’t materialize.

All the memories of Noctis, his best friend, came flooding back followed by the dread of what not being able to summon his gun meant. 

Noct was dead.    

Ardyn lunged forward and sneered at Prompto.  Reaching out to him with stained fingers Prompto staggered backwards and hit the mirror.  His face was stained with black lines and his clothes were tattered. 

How could this be happening!? 

Summoning what mental clarity he had left Prompto rushed forward and pushed Ardyn out of his way.  But he grabbed a hold of Prompto’s arm.  He needed to get away to stand a better chance at fighting.  What had happened to Gladio?

Yelling in shock when he suddenly felt a large hand wrap around his other arm he turned and almost fell into Gladio.  “I gottcha, let’s get out of here.” Gladio huffed as he moved to stand in between Prompto and Ardyn. 

Prompto found he couldn’t form words and lamely pointed at Ardyn with a panicked look.  This was too much to handle right now.  He could feel himself shaking.

“It’s not him Prom!  Calm down, you’re safe.”  Gladio hugged him closer and drug him towards the exit but not before whipping his head around and yelling at the actor playing Ardyn.  “You’re a real fucking asshole!”

The next few minutes passed in a blur.  Prompto clung to Gladio’s arm as he was ushered through the park and towards the exit.  He found himself being pushed into a bench half a block from the fair.  Gladio’s strong arms were still around him reassuring him with kind words. 

“Prompto, look at me… that guy was an actor, it wasn’t real.”

Struggling to stay composed Prompto focused on breathing.  “Why… we won…”

“Ardyn is still dead, we still won.  That guy was an actor, please believe me.”  Gladio pleaded.  The former shield was starting to worry about what damage this random encounter had done to Prompto.  “Come on let’s get home.” 

After several patient minutes Gladio was able to urge Prompto up off the bench and they walked home.  Prompto had stopped shaking so severely but he wouldn’t let go of Gladio’s arm.   Gladio kept whispering words of comfort into the blonde’s ears as they trudged home with a large arm swung protectively over Prompto's shoulder. 

Once the door to the apartment shut Prompto broke down.  He sank to the floor and sobbed.  How he had managed to stay composed for that long was a miracle.   Curling up into a ball on the floor he struggled to breathe and not picture that horrible stained face.   Prompto started when he felt two strong arms lift him up off the floor. 

Gladio was there holding him and carrying him to the couch. “I gottcha babe, don’t worry.  Relax.” 

His boyfriend knew what made him calm and quickly wrapped Prompto up in a blanket while snuggling with him on his lap.  Rocking Prompto back and forth until the blonde stopped crying Gladio was able to talk more about the encounter.

“I need to hear you say it Prom…. I know it’s hard but it’ll help.”

Prompto took a shuddering breath and squeezed his eyes shut.  “We won.  Arydn’s gone.” 

“Now do you believe it?”

Scoffing in to Gladio’s shoulder Prompto sucked back another sob and finally spoke.  “I do.  Just… I wasn’t expecting that.” 

“Well no one would, and especially for you that was cruel.”  

Prompto had calmed down enough to form full sentences as he processed all that had happened.  “Please don’t let go, kay?” 

“Never, I’m not gonna ever let you go.  We can eat dinner on the couch tonight just like this.”

“How’re you going to cook?” Prompto asked with a chuckle. 

“No clue but that’s not the point.”  He smirked.  “Oh man, good thing you didn’t invite Iggy and Aranea to go!”

“Huh!  Why?”

“Are you kidding, the murder power couple, Aranea would have got that fake asshat in a head lock and Iggy probably would’ve tried to stab him with the blade he hides in his walking stick!”

This elicited a genuine laugh out of Prompto.  “Thanks babe, I needed that.  Think they would want to come over for food?”

“I can call and see, I might be able to convince them to bring take out and then I wouldn’t have to let you go.” 

“How you going to answer the door?”

“By taking you with me… duh Prompto.”  Gladio smirked. 

Prompto was getting better every minute that passed, he knew dinner would help even more and of course Gladio did an awesome job at focusing his attention to the right thing.  He zoned out as Gladio called Ignis and was relieved to hear a confirmation of their participation in dinner.   He would get through this episode. 

 

* * *

 

 

Gladio poked Prompto in the arm until he groaned loudly.  “Why are you waking me up, it’s the weekend I wanna sleep in.” 

“You gotta see this.”  Gladio shoved his phone in Prompto’s bleary eyed face.  “Trust me, you’ll feel better.”

It was a news article featuring an incident that occurred at the Halloween fair last night.  Prompto instantly became worried that someone had seen them shove the actor and had made a fuss.  He was quickly proved wrong when he continued to read.

Someone unknown had gone and punched the fake Ardyn guy out.  Knocked him out cold right in the haunted house.  The actor had only suffered a broken nose but the fair had opted to remove that ‘special character’ from the roster. 

“So…. Feel better?”

Prompto rolled over and snuggled into Gladio’s chest and hugged him tight.  “Any idea who could have done that?” 

Gladio shrugged and then opened his eyes wide. Prompto couldn’t see the reaction but felt the frozen muscles under his head.  “You don’t think those two did something after they left here last night do you?” 

“Nah… they wouldn’t… would they?”

**Author's Note:**

> Check me out on tumblr if you want. Just mostly FFXV stuff with some random dribbles. [BGN846 Blog](https://bgn846.tumblr.com/)


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